Lewis Hamilton restated his view that Mercedes need to change the concept behind their Formula 1 car after finishing fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
While the Red Bull drivers scored a dominant one-two, Hamilton was passed by Fernando Alonso in the latter stages of the race and was unable to follow the Aston Martin driver past Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Ferrari.
On Friday Hamilton indicated he believes Mercedes need to change the design philosophy of their car in order to challenge their rivals. Speaking after today’s race he made it clear he expects to see a change.
“We’ve just got to keep working,” said Hamilton in response to a question from RaceFans. “We know we’re not where we need to be and we know that this isn’t the right car.
“It’s a difficult one but I’ve just got to try and stay positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the guys, keep trying to be a positive light for them and get the best points I can on a weekend.”
Hamilton said Mercedes were “miles away” from their rivals in the race. He gained a place late on when Charles Leclerc retired from third place with a power unit problem.
“There was a Ferrari that would have been ahead of him so we would have really been sixth,” said Hamilton. “The podium was nowhere near.”
Although he closed on Sainz at the end of the race, Hamilton was unable to attack the Ferrari. “They were just quicker than us,” he said. “The Ferraris are just quicker than us. We’re the fourth-fastest team.
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“It was close for a second and then just couldn’t hold on to him, he just kept going away. I did the best I could.”
Mercedes went into the first race of the season hoping to rebound from a disappointing 2022 campaign which featured just a single win. But while the team had addressed the bouncing problem which plagued it last year, Hamilton said the car otherwise “generally felt the same as last year” in the race.
“When we did the strategy [briefing] in the morning I told the guys it wasn’t good to go as far [in a stint] as they said it was going to go, and it didn’t. So we’ve just got a lot of work to do.
“We’ve just got to add downforce to the car, we’re just lacking a lot of downforce. So that’s really where the time will come. As soon as we put more load on the rear and the front we’ll pick up that pace.”
Hamilton congratulated Mercedes customer team Aston Martin and Alonso, who he fought closely in the race, after they opened their season with a podium finish.
“He did a great job,” said Hamilton. “It’s really amazing to see. And to all the Aston Martin team they did such an amazing job.
“So we’ve got work to do because half their car is ours and they do their aero in our wind tunnel. So we’ve got some work to do.”
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